Another New Beginning

Wishes. Ideas. Decisions. Plans. Unknowns. Uncertainty. Possibility.

First steps. Deep breaths.

I begin again. Back on the path of what I love to do: Write. Coach. Facilitate.

When I read back on the journey I've been on these past few years ... I am inspired by what I've learned. I want to reap more as the journey continues. I want to witness and savour it through this process of reflecting and writing. 

So I re-establish this blog, accepting the gaps. It will continue to be a place to share my perspective on change and transition and uncertainty … LIFE really! Insights and tools pondered and gleaned from the work I co-create with others, from the resources I find along the way, and from reflections of my own experiences. I hope you'll be inspired to add your own voice here too.

I dedicate these musings to anyone who is in the midst of a change or a transition themselves...

     be it a coming together or a coming apart; 
     be it with a job, a community or a person; 
     be it a fear faced or a dream realized; 
     be it a time of learning or unlearning or rediscovering.  

     Let's figure out more about how to be with whatever is.

Let's Live Aligned with curiosity, wonder and purpose!

Breathe Big!

Linda

new beginning

I've been carrying this poem by John O'Donohue with me for the past few weeks. I thought that you might find inspiration or comfort in these words as well.


For a New Beginning

In out of the way places of the heart.
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground.
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Through your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.


From 'To Bless the Space Between Us'
by John O'Donohue

endings and beginnings

September arrives. I consider this month to be the official beginning of my 'creative sabbatical' - which means leaving energy, time and space to explore my own brand of art making while I also continue to offer individual and team coaching/facilitation services.

No matter how I slice it, it's been a tough few months. Many of the big, heavy decisions have been made. Letting go of my home (for now). Moving to what has been my work space (thereby ending it's use as a rental space). Letting go of my relationship, possibly our musical duo as well.

My heart is heavy. I suspect it w ill take awhile to heal, to awaken to the gifts that these sad events hold for me. There are no beginnings without some endings.

What am I noticing as I live this? That moving, purging, leaving took a lot more time and energy than I'd anticipated. That I'm struggling with how to inform my clients. That I've reverted back into 'busy-ness' with overloading my community commitments. That I've been slipping on my self imposed deadlines for this blog ...but hanging in there nonetheless. That I haven't created my studio space yet.

I'm also noticing how grateful I am that I have this space to retreat to during these hard times. And amazing friends who have lifted spirits as well as boxes to get me here. I am grateful for my desire to write, to make art, to begin the journey to explore it more fully over this next year. I'm grateful for my moments of yoga that help to ground me and for friends who listen and offer new perspectives. I am grateful for my relative health, for the beauty that surrounds me, for my desire to learn and move on.

So I try to remember the Sufi story about 'could be good, could be bad'. Nothing is permanent. Though I may not understand or appreciate where it will lead me right now, I trust that something good will come out of all this...given  a good dose of compassion and time.